Warriors' Steve Kerr cites father's terror death to denounce Trump travel ban
Steve Kerr has joined the chorus of voices in the NBA that have attacked Donald Trumps ban on travellers and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries.
On Sunday, the Golden State Warriors coach said the presidents executive order had personal resonance. I would just say that as someone whose family member was a victim of terrorism, having lost my father, if were trying to combat terrorism by banishing people from coming to this country, by really going against the principles of what our country is about and creating fear, its the wrong way of going about it, said Kerr whose father, Malcolm, was killed by two gunmen in 1984 while he was president of the American University of Beirut. Islamic Jihad, a precursor of Hezbollah, later claimed responsibility for the murder. If anything, we could be breeding anger and terror. So Im completely against whats happening.
Trumps policy has led to stories of families being separated, while critics of the ban including Republican senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham say it could play into the hands of groups such as Isis.
I think [the policy] is shocking. Its a horrible idea, Kerr said. I feel for all the people that are affected. Families are being torn apart, and I worry in the big picture what this means to the security of the world. Its going about it completely opposite. You want to solve terror, you want to solve crime, this is not the way to do it.
The San Antonio Spurs coach, Greg Popovich, also spoke about the ban on Sunday. As you already know, I have lots of thoughts about what weve done to ourselves as a country and what weve allowed to happen, Popovich told reporters. But well see where this goes. Obviously the rollout today was Keystone Kops-like by any measure with objectivity. Whether you want to say its good or bad is irrelevant. But it was Keystone Kops, and thats scary.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/jan/30/steve-kerr-terror-father-trump-travel-ban